The Value of “Shared Consciousness” and Why Leadership Has Nothing To Do With Your Corporate Title

For years, organizations have been dead-set on efficiency. If you’re familiar with Frederick Winslow Taylor, the “Father of Scientific Management,” you may remember his early-1900s obsession with optimizing and simplifying jobs — all in the name of productivity.

Taylor, whose principles are known as “Taylorism,” literally experimented with designs of a new-and-improved shovel people could use for seven hours straight. He studied how bricklayers move, convinced he could uncover strategies to lay bricks even faster. Taylor saw a distinction between manual work and mental work. In his mind, managers planned and implemented training, while workers did the work.

Here’s what I’m wondering: For leaders today, how dated are these ideas?

I find they’re lacking in footing for the future.

Taylor’s view on leadership is what we need to challenge. But, is there a new way of thinking that captures the essence of what we’re lacking?

The idea of teamwork is in opposition to Taylorism. Taylorism is about breaking the whole into bits. Teamwork is about joining forces to work holistically, more synergistically.

Team of Teams and the Idea of “Shared Consciousness”

In his book, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, General Stanley McChrystal, a retired, four-star general and the former commander of Joint Special Operations Command and U.S. and International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) Afghanistan, hones in on the concept of creating “shared consciousness.”

Back in 2004, when McChrystal took command of the Joint Special Operations Task Force, military tactics were failing. Things weren’t working. Was there a management practice that could combine agility, adaptability, and cohesion? Could it serve thousands of people? For a “leviathan” organization such as the US military, how does one begin to implement such a shift?

In traditional hierarchies, decisions are made at the top and get passed down. By the time everyone is “in the loop” situations change. McChrystal realized that when subordinates are enabled to act with “smart autonomy” in nuanced situations, “they got remarkably better effects.”

Shared consciousness is, in essence, teamwork. It’s the collective: we.

Whether you work for a large-scale company or a bright new start-up, it’s easy to take one look around as a leader and notice how complicated and complex our world is now. We’re venturing into an era when business and leadership, as usual, is no longer predictable; in fact, everything is unpredictable.

Our obsession with speed and interconnectedness constantly trips us up when we’re moving at such a velocity, and it’s easy to make mistakes. With shared consciousness, there’s a new level of radical transparency. Information that was once only available at a senior level is now available to all. This democratic use of knowledge means anyone could have the next great idea. It doesn’t matter your corporate title, everyone, with their creativity, knowledge, and experience — becomes an asset.

Shared consciousnesses are about connecting ourselves to one another. It’s about allowing everyone in. This is how leaders create best practices, and, oh, what a modern idea that is.